It is a common myth that making special birthday memories for your child has to dig a hole right through the center of your budget. In fact, kids are simple at heart, and that’s why we love them so much – they remind us of all the simple places where joy can be found.

With that said, here are some birthday party themes for girls and boys that will turn into lasting happy memories – without sending you into debt in the process!

Throw a Shapes Party

Circles, rectangles, squares, triangles – a Shapes Party is the perfect simple choice for the younger set (girls or boys). Not only is it super easy to organize a shapes party, from the food to the decorations to the games and favor bags, but even the littlest attendees will feel right at home identifying (and often ingesting) their favorite shapes.

Select a Theme

First, decide whether you want to select just one shape (for instance, circles) or feature all the main shapes.

What You Will Need

Your list of supplies will depend on your theme, but here are some easy ideas to use.

Snacks. Finding snacks in the shape(s) of your theme is as easy as a knife, cookie cutter or the pre-packaged goodies at big box retail stores.

Decorations. Balloons, big dot stickers (any retailer will have these), posters, photos and streamers are all perfect for a Shapes party.

Games. Same goes for games – from bubble wrap and blowing bubbles to post-it note Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Party favors. Favors can feature small fruits, kiddie crackers and geometric stickers.

Similar Themed Ideas

Having a color-themed party (featuring one or all colors), a bubbles party (with everything bubbles) and a cupcake party (where the attendees bake and decorate their own cupcakes) are all fun and memorable variations on this creative theme.

Create a Party Photo Booth

Another fabulous way to create surefire good memories for your child’s birthday is to include a photo booth. You can make the “booth” yourself based on your party theme and snap each child’s picture as soon as they come in.

Keys to Making This Work

Of course, if lots of attendees arrive at once, your awesome and well-planned idea could turn into chaos! So here is what to do to make this work.

Choose your camera. A digital camera allows you to email photos to parents later. An instant camera lets you print the photos out and tuck them into the child’s party favor bag – or hand them to the parents at pick-up time.

Choose your photo moment. Depending on the crush at the door, it can be better to take photos as kids are leaving rather than as they arrive.

Keep a list! One thing you don’t want to do is fail to recognize an attendee later (if your party includes face painting, costumes or other activities this can be a real problem you may face). So keep a list of names in the order of the pictures you take.

Designate a second-in-command adult to assist you. Here, while you are snapping the photos, your assistant will be taking down names and (for digital pics at least) parent email addresses.

There are so many great ways to make your child’s birthday memories special and long-lasting. Feel free to use these ideas, or they might help you brainstorm your own unique party!

Bio –

This guest post is courtesy of SignMission, an American owned, operated and manufactured company. SignMission makes various types of signs including vinyl pizza banners, vinyl french fry banners and vinyl belgian waffle banners.